It is big business in the sports industry to sell and distribute novelty items that capitalize on fan enthusiasm. Sports novelty items not only sell as products themselves but also serve as collector items and excellent marketing tools. Many companies distribute free novelty items as a marketing technique to associate their product with the enjoyment of the sporting event experience. In order to be effective, the novelty item must accurately capture important aspects of the sporting event and provide high visibility marketing opportunities.
Motor sport racing is one of the most popular sports and a perfect environment for the selling and distributing of novelty items because racing fans in particular enjoy high quality collector items. Fans have begun wearing novelty items in the form of sports garments and paraphernalia as an enjoyable method of demonstrating their support and enthusiasm for their favorite driver or racing team. Headgear has become popular among fans and distributors because novelty hats are highly visible in the sporting stands and provide excellent marketing space for sponsors and companies looking to advertise.
A form of headgear popular among racing fans is the novelty hat shaped and designed like a racecar. Fans appreciate these racecar novelty hats because the hats provide welcomed shade as well as identifying fans with their favorite driver or racing team. Unfortunately, existing racecar novelty hats employ bulky single element construction that make the existing hats heavy, uncomfortable, problematic for detailed printing, and troublesome to distribute in a volume efficient manner.
An example of a traditional novelty hat for fans and companies is described in U.S. Design Pat. No. 393,536 issued to Buffer et al. This patent discloses a racecar hat formed of a single molded element, shaped like a racecar, and having an aperture in the bottom for resting on a fan's head. The curved surfaces and awkward shape have limited printing capabilities for placing designs, drivers, and details of racing teams and sponsors on the outside of the novelty hat.
Another example of a traditional novelty hat is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,174, issued to Rech et al. The novelty hat of this patent is molded from solid foam and shaped like a racecar. The patent acknowledges that the coarse granular surface of foam makes the foam novelty hat difficult to paint or print. To overcome this problem, the novelty hat is covered with a smooth outer surface such that stickers and decals may be applied. However, detailed printing is still unavailable because of the lack of flat surfaces to print on.
Like other racecar novelty hats, the novelty hats taught by Buffer et al. and Rech et al. employ a bulky single element molded construction and do not collapse or disassemble for shipping and distribution. As such, traditional racecar novelty hats can be uncomfortable to wear and expensive to ship because of their heavy and bulky construction.
In general, novelty hats in the shape of racecars are not suitable for detailed printing of sponsor information and detailed vehicle characteristics on their outer surface because the uneven and curved surfaces of a racecar novelty hats make detailed printing impossible.